KICK Sauber F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg had a great start to the 2025 Formula One season in Melbourne’s Albert Park as Nico Hulkenberg made up ten places during the chaotic race to finish the race in seventh place and speaking following the action he said:
That’s an absolutely positive result for the team. It definitely puts a smile on my face. We didn’t see that coming yesterday after our qualifying performance. Under the challenging conditions today, we didn’t make any mistakes and had a couple of good strategy calls. It was very difficult to keep that car on track and read the conditions. Street circuits under these circumstances are very unforgiving. You are constantly on the edge. On the intermediate tires in the first half of the race I was struggling quite a bit. It was a matter of just staying in the race and waiting for our opportunity. The safety car then obviously put us back in the race for the points, when it started to rain towards the end. We managed to pit exactly in the right moment ahead of others. Sometimes you got to be lucky. With others having some trouble, we stayed clean and rewarded ourselves with this nice six points. I would like to thank the entire team for the hard work to make that happen.”
There was disappointment for debutant Gabriel Bortoleto who was forced to retire from the race and speaking following the action the Brazilian said:
Unfortunately, the race didn’t end as we had hoped – which is a shame, as things were going quite well for me up until that moment. Once the Safety Car period ended, I found myself at the very back, tried to recover, but touched the kerb and ultimately ended up in the wall. We knew anything could happen in conditions like these; we gave it everything but pushed a little too hard. On the other hand, I’m happy for Nico and the team for scoring points today: he did an amazing job, and everyone deserved it, both trackside and back at our HQ in Hinwil. All in all, I think it’s safe to say my debut weekend went well aside from this, especially considering my qualifying result yesterday. It’s been a weekend of learning, getting to know the team and its dynamics even better. Now, I intend to keep working and improving as we look ahead to China next week.”
Beat Zehnder, Director Signature Programs & Operations says:
Today’s race showcased everything that makes Formula One so special—unpredictable weather, thrilling overtakes, exciting maneuvers, and, unfortunately, a few crashes as well. Huge congratulations to both drivers for their performances, and especially to Nico for securing his first points for the team. It was a strong collective effort throughout the entire weekend. The team executed really well, making the right calls in changing conditions and laying the foundation for this result. While this is a great step forward, we remain focused on addressing the challenges we faced to ensure we can consistently fight for points.”